Huntsville gazette., 1887-03-05
OUR DUMB FRIENDS.
Charming Little Sketch by Whittier the
Good Quaker Poet.

A Charming Little Sketch by whittier. the
Good Quaker Poet.
It was said of st. Francis, OF Assist,
that he had attained, through the fer.
vor of his love, the secret of that deep
amity with God and His creation which,
in the language of inspiration, makes
man to be in league with the stones OF
the field, and the beasts Of the field
to be at peace with him. The world
has never been without tender souls,
with whom the golden rule has
broader application than its letter
might seem to warrant. The ancient
Eastern seers recognized the rights OF
the brute creation, and regarded the
unnecessary taking of the life Of the
humblest and meanest as sin; ard in
almost all the old religions of the world
there are legends of saints in the depth
Of whose peace with God and nature all
life was sacredly regarded as the price
less gift of Heaven, and who were thus
enabled to dwell safely amid lions and
serpents.
It is creditable to human nature and
its unperverted instincts that stories
and anecdotes of reciprocal kindness
and affection between men and ami
mails are always listened to with in
terest and approval. How pleasant to
think of the Arab and his horse, whose
friendship has been celebrated in song
and romance. OF vogelweid, the Min
nesinger, and his bequest to the birds.
OF the English Quaker visited wher-
ever he went by flocks Of birds, who,
with cries of joy, alighted on his broad
brimmed hat and his drab coat sleeves.
Of old Samuel Johnson, when half
blind and infirm, cropping abroad of an
evening for oysters for his cat OF
Walter Scott and John Brown of Edin-
burgh and their dogs. Of our own
Thoreau, instinctively recognized by
bird and beast as friend Emerson
says of him: "His intimacy with
animals suggested what Thomas
Fuller records of Butler, the
apiologist, that either he had
told the bees things or the bees had told
ul1A. 0udhCS COilCo dIOullu HIS lCgS,
the fishes swan into his hand; he pulled
the woodchuck out of his hole by his
tail and took foxes under his protection
from the hunters"
In the greatest of the ancient Hindu
poems-the sacred book of the Mahsb-
harata-there is passage of exception
al beauty and tenderness, which records
the reception of King Yudiauthira at
the gate of Paradise. A pilgrim to tha
heavenly city, the King had Travelled
over vast spaces, and one by one the
loved ones, the companions of his jour.
ney, had all fallen and left him alone
save his faithful dog, which still fol.
lowed. He wss met by Indra and in-
vited to enter the holy city. But the
King thinks of his friends who have
fallen on the way and declines to 60 in
without them. The god tells him they
are all within waiting for him. JOY
full, he is about to seek them, when he
looks upon the poor dog weary and
wasted, crouches at his feet, and asks
that he, too, may enter the gate. Indra
refuses, ana tnefeupOn Lne hlng de-
clares that to abandon his faithful and
dumb friend would be be as great sin
as to kill Brahmin.
Away with felicity whose price is to abandon
the faithful!
Never, come veal or woe, will leave my faith.
full dog.
The poor creature, in fear and distress, has
trusted In my powerto save him;
Not, therefore, for life itself, will break my
plighted word.
In full sight Of heaven he chooses
to 60 to hell with his dog, and straight
way descends, as he supposes, thither.
But his virtue and faithfulness change
his destination to heaven, and he finds
himself surrounded by his old friends
and in the presence Of the gods, who
thus honor and reward his humanity
and unselfish love- G. Whittier, IN
Our Dumb animals.